writers olgb

Demonstration against events in Baroda

2007-05-15T15:26:00.000+05:30

Hi all...
I attended the B'lore chapter of the protest at the Gandhi statue on M.G. Road yesterday.
Strongly urge you all to track this issue as it is highly relevant to us.
Many useful links available, including first person accounts of the incidents.
The linkage back to the larger issue is chilling.

http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/volI/incivadodra.html ("Concerned Citizens Tribunal" report)
http://www.jagori.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/what%20happened%20in%20gujarat.PDF

some thoughts

2007-04-13T12:53:00.000+05:30

nice link that i got in a fwd.
just chippin along, chippin along...

http://post.thing.net/node/1448#comment-2876

go for it

2007-04-06T00:31:00.000+05:30

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1521_int_play_comp/index.shtml

:-)

2007-04-04T21:42:00.000+05:30

lots of interestin stuff happnin
good to see so many writer's bloc plays up and running!
and the eternal team bloggin question : what's new with everyone?

Agreed

2007-03-13T19:41:00.000+05:30

Whoever has any suggestion, either write to Rage or to Carl - whomever you are comfortable with. Maybe those can be implemented for the next festival and the next batch of writers. We are old news now. Period.

I just bought myself two graphic novels by Sarnath Bannerjee. i was very suspicious of him before. I thought he would be one of those long-haired, smelly, angsty urban manic with much gas but nothing solid. However, yesterday at the Bangalore launch of The barn owl's wondrous capers, I had to change my mind. Part of the credit goes to the performance by Nakul. A little of it also went to the free booze.

I am on my second play. Oh, i feel my fingertips tingling...a waiter at a restaurant, after midnight - another man visits him, smelly silence - the waiter's friend eavesdrop. Hee haw, I am on.

News!

2007-03-13T18:46:00.000+05:30

Whew! Just got done with my sister-in-law's wedding and came back to...this. Quite a lot happening out there, eh? I think we need to move beyond this issue now. This blog space was intended to be an angstboard/bonding/sharing space for a group of writers who came together coincidentally and decided to communicate with each other of their own free will. I don't think this is or should be space for bitching. Quite frankly, I'd rather not hear people voice their feelings about another group of people on this blog. I think it dilutes the process and takes this space to a zone which cannot be creative. I don't have anything personal against anyone, not even Vijay, because I understand where he's coming from, although I don't approve of his means of expressing himself. I've had my one-on-one with him over this, and I don't think it belongs here. Please don't turn entries into rants--not this kind, at least. Creative block rants are fine, but personal ones are very very bugging for those who aren't a part of the issue.

At my end what's news is that am trying to take the play travelling. Just one BIG problem... need to seriously rewrite the play before that happens. Am in the process of rewriting my first play, and that itself is taking forever. Please, those of you who saw my play, I'd really like some feedback. And really, I CAN take harsh words. Would appreciate them, in fact. The only thing is, would prefer them over email, if possible, cause its personal and not an issue others may want to read here. The only one I've heard from is Swar, and a little bit from Harriet. I know Ira and Sachin saw my play...did anyone else? Haven't heard from them, either. Please do write. You guys know what it's about, so I'd rather hear from you than from people outside the process.

This apart, I was thinking we need to get beyond the festival now. It's been two months, guys! Come on! Get on with life and writing! Whether or not the book happens, all of us have had a wonderful launchpad, and that's reason enough to buck up and get our acts together...wouldn't you agree? This was intended to be the beginnings of a community, so let's work on that, please. I have a feeling a lot of people out there are visiting this blog for the masala element...is that what we're finally about?

In other news...

2007-03-12T22:28:00.000+05:30

Where is everyone? I know it's tough to have a meaningful conversation when there's buckets of excreta flying overhead, but surely something new has happened somewhere?

Who wha ... wtf!

2007-03-12T20:06:00.000+05:30

What's this then?!? I'm away for a few days and the blog is being declared permanently moribund! What is this invertebrate inactivity!!!

I must say I've been watching the whole sludge match with mild interest and annoyance, but I think it's escalated to a ridiculous level and it's time to set some things straight. (Thank heaven the most idiotic parts have been on e-mail!) I don't even know where to begin and how to deal with this efficiently, it seems an immense waste of effort - but this issue is a large turd that one has to pick up bare handed and there's no clean way to do it. And I say we do this now because this shit really stinks...

I think we need to SEPARATE the multiple processes that are going on here. I find Vijay's comments (on Vivek's blog and subsequently on e-mail) hugely problematic because they make certain claims so strongly as to appear the voicing of a consensus. At several points I felt issues were being mixed, personal angst appeared as public injury and private conclusions were getting enmeshed with popular sentiment. I was also revolted by the tone consistently and found myself disgusted and put-off. Tragically, I chose to distance myself. At the same time, I cannot allow the trivialisation of something which I am sentimentally attached to - this space, memories of the process and the people I've met. Forgive me if I am harsh and pardon me if I am sentimental, but I will defend what I love as best as I can, and act as appropriately as I can to clarify the issues.

1. Everyone has had a different process - one experience is not the overall sentiment. Each of us has had our own unique challenges I suppose. It would help to figure out what went wrong and route those suggestions where they can be implemented. Perhaps the part of the process where the script finds a home with a director was the bumpiest part of the journey? Or the integration of the writer into the rehearsal process was not well handled? Or that the quality of the feedback on drafts left a lot to be desired in terms of quality and handling? No point slobbering behind gratitude, no point snarling rabidly - voice it.

2. Reactions to a review have no connection to the larger writing process. I think that the whole review fiasco was quite absurd. But it can't be linked to the failings of the workshop process. To make a connection between a review and the intricasies of an entire years worth of work is as irresponsible as junking the whole thing on the basis of one problematic interaction. The fact that it was done in a public space makes it doubly revolting.

3. One person's interactions with the organisers have no connection to the larger workshop process. This is the ickiest part and I refuse to engage with this. Wash your dirty laundry elsewhere please. Im the least interested in "who said what to whom and then you know what he said" - it stinks. I don't care what it is, what's true, what's speculation, I don't want to hear it in a public space. It makes me feel dirty and depressed.

4. Parading a personal slight as a larger and significant process is damaging and trivialising. I find the "colonial introject" diatribe is offensive; and the example provided to substantiate is as petty in content as the sentiment behind it. "Something we Indians do very well." - is the most alarming generalisation I've heard... If there's a problem of a particular scale that perhaps has arisen out of other macro-issues, address the issue directly. Linking it to the larger discourse makes the problem seem a lot bigger than it really is. And as a consequence makes the discourse seem petty and trivial. (I won't even start, on how something as practical as the mismanagement of a production gets positioned as a great subversion and malignment of feminist discourse.)

I plead that we all identify problem areas we have had, and address those problems appropriately. In this case, inaction is as impotent as malevolent anger. Well that's it. I've wasted enough time and effort on this.

Cheerio.

scripts please!

2007-02-22T14:16:00.000+05:30

Hello you lot -- I've been thinking about you all even more than usual as I have started writing about my year as an observer of Writers Bloc. I'm starting off with an article and then will see if I can do more with it all (book?). I have loads of material on the workshop, of course, but would so much appreciate it if you could send me final versions of the plays that were performed last month. You probably have my email address but in case not, it is harriet.devine@tiscali.co.uk
Thanks and love
Harriet

Hello from London

2007-02-16T05:02:00.000+05:30

Thanks to RGK I am now promoted from blog lurker to fully fledged contributor. I wear my Writers Bloc t-shirt proudly here in the land of Big Brother, although it's a bit too chilly to do so without a jumper over the top. I have been giving my own solo performances of key moments from the festival to those who wish to know more (my rendition of Poornaviram lacks emotional intensity maybe, but is strong on costume changes...) I am embarrassingly late completing the new draft of my new play which lacks an acceptable ending but does (thanks to its young cast) have a myspace presence. No more now as I must write. I miss you all loads.

Update (and outpouring of bile)

2007-02-14T21:20:00.000+05:30

hullo!

important bit:
im in the process of settling on an acceptable template that we can all use to standard format our final scripts, as per Shernaz's mail. Any inputs, suggestions are welcome...
I'm currently tinkering with the Script Smart template from the BBC writersroom resource. Any other templates, links will be useful. will mass mail shortly.

random bit:
got shitloads to say on multiple issues and im not in the mood to be eloquent, polite, overly coherent or PC... so...

1. as writers we've been influencing each other. there were several points in the workshop and while watching the performances when i felt beats in plays that were very similar - (involving ants, globs of blood, sunsets etc...) ... it feels odd but nice in some way... like we have a common voice at some level. it's only expected when we are all writing together. it doesn't bother me. from my lit.crit. days - Bloom's 'anxiety of influence' is a bucket o' crap tht doesn't matter to me. similarly, thematically the plays may/may not be covering radically new ground, it doesn't matter... we're developing our voices and we are honest in our attempt.

some wanker digs up an existing text and levels the charge of plagirism - that fucking matters! you belittle the efforts of the writer and you trivialise the emerging voice as being redundant, unoriginal. take any of our texts and we can all dig up similar works that already exist. have we been stealing? fuck you. is my work unimportant because the ground has been covered already? fuck you. do you have a problem with my writer's voice? I'll quote Kane, Mamet and Marber at you - "Fuck you."

2. there's a difference between feedback, criticism and opinion. each is a very different reaction to a work. figure out the difference and accord each its due.

3. voices of dissent are important. they make a space healthy, honest. they result in fucking noisy spaces, but i'd rather a noisy space where people speak their minds, than a fucking set of sitting room tea cup conversations that reek of hypocrisy. crush the voice of dissent and you might as well quit being a playwright... at some level you ARE the voice of dissent.

4. if there are hardly any playwrights, there are even fewer critics.

5. the general critical reaction to the festival is understandably predictable - 'personal apolitical voices', 'dominated by relationships', and somewhere a comment on a generation - "technicians before wordsmiths" ... this is food for thought. i may not agree with many things, i may have counter arguements for all of these, but it is something to think about. and confront in the WORK. there will always be mischief makers/genuine colloborators, adoring/dead/disinterested/electric audiences, grumpy/sensitive/archaic/perceptive academics/critics and fellow playwrights/intellectuals/critics/writers... that's the fun of it, that's the big fuckup too...

6. how is everyone? i'm suffering a major case of post-festival depression. i wish you lurkers would stop lurking and fucking post man...

7. isn't it funny, how all the different processes merge into the final performance? it's like i'm invloved in making scrambled eggs. some might like the final taste, some won't. what i find hilarious is when someone tries to isolate one element beyond a degree of accuracy and ends up making an ass of themselves... and then you get a comment like... "yes, i found the french toast was poorly prepared, it was all scrambled and full of egg..." sigh... no wonder people keep saying that playwriting is thankless...

8. hmmm... im done for now. miss u guys like mad! and before i turn into a puddle of sentimental goop, i'm off. ciao...

My address

2007-02-14T01:40:00.000+05:30

This is for Harriet. Am putting this in a post so it won't get lost!
My address is:
147 A, Pocket C,
Siddharth Extension,
New Delhi-110014

Thanks a ton, Harriet, one more time!

intersexual bums and other critiques

2007-02-12T19:44:00.000+05:30

There is a formidably intellectual type (or pompous fartbag, depending on how you look at it) theater person floating around cyberspace...calls himself angry fix (and what fun we could have with that, could we not boys and girls) who seems to be deeply grieved by how terrible all our plays were.
He says, for instance, that Epilogue's ghosts being soldiers is a bad intertextual pun.
Will somebody please tell me what that is?
Or at least how to fucking say it without offending my tongue!
:-)

Update on my life - against overcharging, against harassment

2007-02-08T11:01:00.000+05:30

its not been an easy week. i was trying to give more time to my second play when this happened:

5th feb evening, i went to buy my regular 1/2 litre milk pouch from the neighbourhood's Nandini milk booth. it was out of stock. so i asked for two packets of goodlife. and a set curd. the woman at the booth said she would charge me 14 rupees each. the MRP for goodlife is 12 rupees and set curd's 13 rupees. she mentioned the cauvery verdict problem as a reason. while i was telling her that she couldn't overcharge because hers was an authorized retailer and that i could go and complain about it, her husband (the owner) came and snatched away the milk packets from me. then immediately he started abusing me in kannada, pointed to his private parts and physically intimidated me. when i told him to behave, he verbally assaulted me and a crowd gathered. strengthened by their attention, he hammered more abuse. i decided that it was no use confronting him and went home, resolving to file a complaint with the police, the consumer court and KMF. when amit came home, i told him about the incident. he went to speak to the milkman. he and his assistant physically assaulted him and threatened him that they would rape me and knife him to death....he boasted that he knew politicians all around and he would see us...

i have filed an FIR against this man and his assistant. met the Managing Director of Karnataka Milk Federation yesterday and he has already started an inquiry. went to the Consumer Court yesterday and I am filing a complaint today. have called up the Alternative Law Forum too...

street harassment of women in bangalore has reached a menacing level. it is impossible to travel alone at night, we get overcharged everywhere by autowallas, milkmen, shopkeepers...and we are told that we have no right to live in this city because we are outsiders...

amit has full updates of this case here on his blog. please do go read it whenever you have the time.

And life goes...?

2007-02-02T13:39:00.000+05:30

That's it. Shows over. Just like that.
sigh!
Why?
Now to let go of mama-papa's hands and walk that long, hard road of edit and rewrite, work out shows, publicity, sponsors...and try very very hard not to compare other efforts with WB.
sigh.
I'm in depression.
How are you all?
Oh, and all the best to Maia for her show tomorrow.

Books!

2007-01-22T16:37:00.000+05:30

Hey,
Have been bugging Shernaz over the past few days, and whoever else I can catch about getting the books Harriet got for us recirculated. Did everyone even get to have a look? Everyone who wanted to, that is. Maia sent some books to me which are now with Shernaz. These were:

Wertenbaker: Break of Day
Donnelly: Bone
Brogan: What’s in the Cat
Daley: Blest be the Tie

Where are the rest? There were 25 in all, and that's all I've seen! Can we please have the lot back in Bombay in the course of the festival so that we can all have a look at the books and read/photocopy what we want to?

Come on people, whoever has them--share!

few thoughts as they say ...

2007-01-22T14:54:00.000+05:30

last night, a legendary theatre practitioner told me this: you told a story last night. theatre is not story.

what is theatre?

Hello, testing, testing...

2007-01-15T18:31:00.000+05:30

Ram posted this I think a couplea weeks ago..."have we retreated into a personal shell? Do we write with myopia because we are confident only of our own representational stance, and eschew ownership of public conscience? How do you react to criticism that slots you into a 'self-absorbed urban angst' category?"
Read Pragya's review of Manji's play (the most glowing review so far, by the way) ... she talks about this very thing.
As you can see I'm trying to jump start this space.
Come on, guys.
Post! Post!

Woo Hoo!

2007-01-10T11:12:00.001+05:30

And what a great start to the festival!

Feed back blog active

2007-01-07T14:24:00.000+05:30

i've set up the feedback blog.
http://www.writersblog07.blogspot.com/

12 days and still writing!!!

2006-12-28T13:39:00.000+05:30

Helllooo,
Today is the 28th.
Epilogue opens on the 9th.
And I'm still writing.
And we're all laughing hysterically on an ongoing basis at rehearsal. And not necessarily in the appropriate places.
It's mad. But lovely.
What news of everyone else?

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2006-12-27T19:50:00.000+05:30

Party hard, rock on!

Have a great 2007!

thoughts

2006-12-22T12:52:00.000+05:30

The very impulse to write, I think, springs from an inner chaos crying for order, for meaning, and that meaning must be discovered in the process of writing or the work lies dead as it is finished. To speak, therefore, of a play as though it were the objective work of a propogandist is an almost biological kind of nonsense, provided, of course, that it is a play, which is to say a work of art.
- Arthur Miller

Does this account for works that get caught up in their own ideological stances? If you are writing from a committed position, pretty much everything is geared towards the advancement of the agenda... what then is the condition of the aesthetic? Or is this when we slide some plays into the 'social' or 'issue based' category?

And another question - have we retreated into a personal shell? Do we write with myopia because we are confident only of our own representational stance, and eschew ownership of public conscience? How do you react to criticism that slots you into a 'self-absorbed urban angst' category?

27TH DECEMBER - - - !!!

2006-12-17T12:36:00.000+05:30

when you playwrights are thrown to the media, with or without pancake, in that float called bombay, i will be happily settling down with my 7-kg heavy saree. hee hee. much fun than a press con where the best you would get might be a mushroom quiche. bleh. while i would be showered with gold and diamond and crispy dough, you peeps would just have to contend with those 5-min tableau. no?

meet me in jan, people, and tell me how good my mehendi looks on my delicate writer's hands. heh.

GRAAARRRH!!!

2006-12-16T13:27:00.000+05:30

Just sent everyone invites to the blog. AGAIN!
Some ids have gone missing ... So...

Just remember to sign in with gmail ids and not the old ones.

Grumble grumble mumble...

Admin

2006-12-16T10:56:00.000+05:30

Hi...
Blogger.com has suggested a migration/upgrade of blogs towards gmail integration. I've upgraded our dashboard, so all team members will need to re-register themselves before posting any new comments. If you have a gmail account, there should be no problems in the transition. If you do not, then blogger will give you the option of creating one. Sorry for the hassle, but it will make managing the blog a little easier and give us some new features (apparently). Also, it will be one less password to remember since you can just sign into blogger using your gmail username and password. :-)
Temporary anonymous posting has also been enabled, so in case you get locked out, let me know through the blog itself.
Thanks.

Ode To A Nightingale

2006-12-16T09:42:00.000+05:30

THE TAO OF LOVE
- Maia Katrak

Love
is neither given
nor received

it is glimpsed
in the eyes
of the beloved.

Your heartbreak
is but an itch
in the side
of the Universe.

Love
is neither given
nor received

it is a glimpse
of the end
of the illusion

it is the calm
in the I
of the storm.

We know Emily Dickinson. Sylvia Plath. Sarojini Naidu. Kamala Das.
But do we know our Maia Katrak ?
Maia. Our Maia.
The talented and versatile Maia.
The beautiful and brilliant Maia.
The mysterious and enigmatic Maia.
Never mind if you don’t know Maia.
What’s more important?
The artist or her art? The poet or her song?
Don’t you just love the creative use of words in this particular Tao? The way
eye becomes the “I”. How anything to do with Maia becomes the I? Or sometimes Rustom.
But not Sohrab. Never Sohrab.
What I love about “The Tao of Love” is the Sufi philosophy of love “being neither given or received.”
What a literary gem!
Hence forth we would only be discussing Maia or her poems or Rustom in this blog.
I am sorry but that’s how it is going to be.

Vijay? We know a Vijay?

2006-12-15T11:11:00.000+05:30

No really, Vijay who?

2006-12-15T11:06:00.000+05:30

VIJAY WHO?

2006-12-15T11:04:00.000+05:30

"Do you know Vijay Nair?"

2006-12-14T15:39:00.000+05:30

I was out to lunch yesterday with the whole of the English Department of my university. Sitting next to a young man who joined the dept in September -- he is nice but we had never chatted socially before. I was telling him about India, and about Vasind, and what it was all about. Then he said, "Do you know Vijay Nair?". How much of a coincidence was that? Vijay may be guessing now -- yes, it was Steve Van Hagen, who was in Canterbury at the same time, I think. He said he had acted in one of Vijay's plays there. We then spent a happy few minutes telling each other how nice Vijay was, and he sent much love and good wishes.

Doh! Just got it...

2006-12-13T08:53:00.000+05:30

I think I've had a small revelation. A lot of my feedback at the first workshop centered around allowing my writing to 'surprise' me. At the time, it seemed kinda dumb (as is often the case with good advice) ... and I couldn't make much of it.

How do you let your writing surprise you? Sneak up on yourself when you are asleep or writing and put ice down your back??? Strangely enough, at this point in time, I think this is probably how it's done.

This retrospective actually occurred to me as a result of a conversation I had last night with herr direktor. At some point I figured that the single atomic unit of the play is a single action ... an activity that is carried out by one entity on another... and this atomic action is electric with possibilities. Man looks at skull - on screen, or in performance, is pretty solidified, but Man looks at skull - on the page is an entire world of possibility.

Is this the terror of it all - the surprise - the 'possibility'? The single line on the page that seems perfectly stable to you, ends up as something totally different in the director's mind and a third in the actors, and another in every member of the audience... I think that's terrifying! Not because 'that's not what i meant' or 'this is my interpretation' ... but because the text is a bundle of atomic units carefully assembled by the writer, and god knows what lurks in there - and the rush of it all, is in the release of the dormant nuclear power!

Significant time is spent in rehearsal in the 'exploration' of texts. And that is an exciting time for directors and actors! And when you think about it, all the time spent writing has also been an exploration - the struggle to fixate ideas onto paper. And here I make a jump - an actor trains in an effort to 'create the moment' - and some of the most dazzling moments are those born of absolute spontaniety... If an actor can train to receive this instant, much the same can be said of the writer...

Beyond the burden of words, beyond the problems of text - in the act of writing itself - is the unimaginably staggering world of possibility... the terror of the blank page, the horror of staring down at places in yourself and seeing characters shimmer into existence, the shearing agony of knowing where the play is going and not knowing at all how to get there, the 'stomach burn' of being hit sideways by ideas at 3am when you've passed out on your keyboard... waking up in unknown territory ...

You 'surprise yourself' by walking out of the world of 'round, flat, real, type' characters and action - and into the realm of the silhouette...

heh heh heh

2006-12-07T10:52:00.001+05:30

this is just too funny... you have GOT to hear this..

http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

i still can't stop laughing...

Theatre and history lessons

2006-12-03T18:12:00.000+05:30

Guess this post is more for Vijay than anyone else! Been having a whirlwind week but decided that come what may I would catch something at the Prithvi festival. Managed to catch a couple of plays, both by, er, an extremely erudite gentleman. Erudite, no doubt, (and I'm not being sarcy) and he made sure the audience knew that. The show started almost half an hour late, and I was beginning to panic because the schedule was really tight and we had a performance scheduled in exactly two and a half hours. But after one hour of a history lesson (taught by a very sleepy and long-winded teacher) called Mahadevbhai, I frankly didn't feel terrible about having to walk out during the intermission. Went with a lot of apprehensions to see today's Cotton-Polyester show. It was better, but frankly not quite the zinger, and I could clearly see the director's inputs shining through.
The one thing shining through is a lack of energy in the scripts. There's no zing, you know? Cotton-polyester holds you because of the fine actors in the cast. Kumud Mishra, was, I thought, really good, as was the actor who played Bhausaheb, and they were well-supported by the rest of the cast. which is not to say that Jaimini Pathak was not good, but the script was soooooo boring!
This has made me really apprehensive. This guy is supposed to be one of the more successful playwrights around, isn't he? And quite clearly knows it! I hope I don't end up completely miscalculating the way the play is supposed to come across to an audience, and end up dependent on a great cast to pull through my script, 'cause I may not get that.
Oh god, do I sound uptight! But how I wish we had the luxury of a private showing with the harshest audience, like that play-in-making concept we read here some time back...I am so totally dreading the January onslaught. Give us honest reviews, You up there...and better make them good ones!

(PS: Am coming over to Bombay on the 6th for a couple of days to meet my team. Who's around in the city at that time? Let's catch up!)

Again, and again

2006-12-01T15:50:00.000+05:30

Somebody stop me!

This time, it was twenty metres away. Claymore, they later told us. The shrapnel opens a small toothy grin in the window above my head (oh, did I mention they were shatter-proof?)

Then, the firing. Yell at my team to get away from the windows. Just get the hell back into the corridor. AK-56 assault rifles, a few together, sound like the movies tell you they're supposed to. The firing stops. I risk a peek from behind a pillar. The target steps out, gets into a less damaged car, and zips away. It's been all of a few seconds.

They pick up the pellets, from the floor, from inside someone's car. Little round things, thrown around by the Claymore.

Some pellets not so lucky. Embedded into a skull here, a heart there. Their journey has come full circle.

Looking forward to idyllic and tranquil Bombay next week.

Whoo hoo!

2006-12-01T09:25:00.000+05:30

Hullo!
We having a general dinner meet up kind of thing on Monday night, the 4th of Dec.
Get your bums to Soul Fry (Pali Naka, Bandra) for Karaoke night at 8pm.
Tell all tell all! Bring party hats and tooters.
Wheee...

Dead baby in shoe box

2006-11-30T08:54:00.000+05:30

Every one got Shernaz's latest?

The shoe box idea?

Watcha thinking of puttin in yours? Tell, TELL!

I'm leaning towards foetus fragments (how melodious is that .... foetus fragments) . Foetus fragments in a shoe box. Any ideas on where I might get some? Foetus fragments, I mean. Fragments of foetus. Fragmented zygotes.

If I'm being obnoxious it's only becoz my director rocks and my Rustom rocks and my Freny is THE FRENY I ALWAYS DREAMED OF and Epilogue generally rocks so there...nyah nyah nyah!

Dope

2006-11-27T22:15:00.000+05:30

Hullo all. Anyone descending to Bombay please bring all scripts you have in your possession. Paucity of reading material is apparent and we can swap around stuff to read during the run-up to the festival.

hello all

2006-11-25T12:35:00.000+05:30

wassup? hope all is well and everyone satisfied with various directors etc finally.. vijay man... can't tell you how pissed off your story made me.. forget about it... you've got faez and trishla now right? your play will be much better in their hands than in his...

came across a really good site for playwrights etc.... good to have as a database to refer to... havent come across one as extensive as this before... if youre interested, here it is....

http://www.doollee.com/index.htm

also, things have changed since my last post... will be in town for the festival after all... yay!! looking forward to it bigtime...

cheers

an evening out

2006-11-23T19:32:00.000+05:30

i watched a 1 hour 10+ minute skit called 'Kurukshetra Burning!". was it only me who wondered whether the old woman was singing the OST of tomorrow never dies? or was it tomorrow is another day? i guess such confusion in the mind occurs when an actor is happier playing prasad bidappa than Lord Krishna.

quoting a few displaced thoughts on misplaced literatures

2006-11-21T14:26:00.000+05:30

i begin with what 'the mumpsimus' ends with:

"If you write a play, call it a poem, because otherwise everyone will assume it's a blog post, and trust me, you don't want that."

please read.

P.S.: A few might (nim)wittily observe that I am parading my wired readings. So?

Our balding pal Anuvab Pal

2006-11-21T13:21:00.000+05:30

globbers, please read about the first theatre acting debut of the president's pal.

via Ultrabrown.

Crab Research

2006-11-21T11:50:00.000+05:30

After resting for 6 days, I'm still tired. So I'll just get this post over with.
I went off for a 28 day course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarakashi. I was part of Basic Course 195, 96 strong, training in the Gharwal Himalayas, Uttaranchal. It's an army institute, very demanding - but immensely rewarding.

I wanted to authenticate Z's Act 2 monologues and make his whole emotional-physical journey as rich as possible. I gained height upto 16000 feet, went to temperatures of -5.6 degrees celcius without wind chill. Research findings were amazing, which you will see in the play.

Two points where the research got nasty - when I went to wash my mess tin in the river I slipped on verglass and my hand went straight into the water. The fingers curled up and stopped working for a few hours. It was sick not having any control over my fingers, I couldn't tie knots, rope up, or even straighten my thumb inside the gloves. Once the sun came out and thanks to new gloves, my hand slowly began working again. Do NOT want that to happen again.

The other point was when I fell off a snow slope, mostly out of my stupidity. I was busy taking photographs and turned to give my camera to another climber who was jummaring up and pulled out my self-anchor from the snow. I went straight down - no injuries, but do NOT want to do that again either.

Other than that I know what it feels like to not be able to breathe if you're not acclimatised correctly. And what it feels like to keep walking till you're just a head bobbing around 176 cms off the ground. And how helpless you are when facing down a mountain.

Fact is though we were completely safe for 99% of the time. (1% allowance for stupidity, which I displayed in large measures.) We were mostly in training environments, and I can only imagine the real thing - out on a new route, with a full expedition. Gulp.

But it's great to be back. Post-research draft 6 reading today! Hoping for the best.

Photos here if you're interested.

Love all!

just gotten snarky

2006-11-20T15:37:00.000+05:30

read this thing. stumbled upon it today.

and ei shall quote her:

"One of the biggest problems I see is writers who think they are filling out police reports and have to include every fact, every look, every causal link."

letting go

2006-11-19T20:54:00.000+05:30

An actor friend of mine just sent me this:

"As a writer you have to let go. Sit back, watch the results and learn from what you see. Its the only way for you to clean up your technique because you can perceive then how directors could possibly interpret your writing. And as you grow and develop as a writer you will find that sometimes its good to have your play turned upside down. After all, it is different interpretations that keep a play alive. No?"

And damn, I agree. I think thats the best thing about being a playwright! It is a strange challenge to have your play wringed, see what comes out of it and again, see for ourselves what possible value it has.

And it is absolutely a great learning experience to work with a director who doesn't bullshit. Amen.

Exit "Real" director from the "Real" world

2006-11-17T13:17:00.000+05:30

I hate to gloat but I have learnt the power of a self fulfilling prophesy.
After all my sermonising on the merits of a new director, I discovered from Shernaz I had a veteran to direct my new play. After some struggle a meeting was set up in Mumbai between the establishment director and a perpetually struggling playwright.
I was in Mumbai on work early this week and left on a sunday evening to make sure that I met my director whose number Shernaz said she can share with me only after "checking" with him. I guess after the mandatory customs check, the great man himself deigned to message me inviting me to "his village." I asked Ramu whether we can meet for dinner that evening and he sounded almost enthusiastic. " Bring any thing else you may have scribbled," Ramu instructed.
" And you would have to read out the script to me. I want to hear your voice." I gulped nervously.
So I reach Mumbai with stars in my eyes. All set for a "real" collaboration with a "real" director. I called him as soon as I checked into the hotel and the game started unfolding.
"Shernaz told me you are coming tomorrow."
" I see. But Shernaz had nothing to do with the messages we exchanged some three hours ago."
"What messages?"
This is playing out like a script, I thought.
Anyway, we agreed to meet the next day for dinner. In the meantime I had homework. So I stood in front of the mirror and practiced reading my script. I started to feel very nervous. I was not a patch on Shernaz, Trishala and Kunal who had read it last.
Next day some "minor emergency" cropped up for Ramu and he couldn't turn up again. By then I had learnt Ramu was responsible for the Prithvi festival and had started feeling almost guilty for making demands on his time. So I practiced in front of the mirror some more and felt even more dissatisfied.
The third night Ramu actually arrived although "a minor emergency had again cropped up." He was an hour late because Vijay Tendulkar had fallen ill "at the last moment" and Ramu had to tend to him. I felt even more humble and went into the bathroom and gargled with lukewarm water to clear my throat. I came out and sat expectantly waiting for his instructions to start reading. Ramu realized he had left my script at Vijay Tendulkar's house. I told him I had mine.
"First let me see anything else you have written earlier to this." I gingerly gave him my two published works hoping they would pass muster. Ramu inspected them sternly for the next ten minutes. He conceded he was a bit envious. I told him I was jealous because his play had travelled to Frankfurt. I hoped the niceties were over and asked Ramu whether we can discuss the play.
"First lets discuss other things and understand where your writing comes from," Ramu instructed sagely. So for the next one and a half hours we discussed.
Ramu talked. I listened and understood the following:
i) Vijay Tendulkar gives upma and chai to everyone who visits his house.
ii) Ramu has a major role to play in the Prithvi date allocations.
iii) Ramu hates the way Rage takes over the theatre scene for two weeks with the British Council and drowns out more deserving work during the Royal Court festival.
iv) Ramu hates the workshop types.
v) Ramu hates Atul Kumar and he has coined a name for him- "Dilli ki Billi."
vi) Ramu hates the audience he gets for his plays. One "idiot" asked him whether Mahadev Bhai was an adaptation of "Forrest Gump" and another "stupid lady" didn't know "such things had happened in Mumbai" after his cotton polyster play.
vii) In one of the Frankfurt book fairs, Habib Tanvir was treated badly even though he was 82 and was unwell.
Since Ramu talks slowly with long pauses, all this took one and a half hours. My body was threatening to pack up because it was close to midnight and I had put in a rare gruelling ten hour work day. I mentally calculated if I started reading it would atleast take an hour and a half. I asked Ramu whether we can discuss the play.
Ramu took out a small notebook and started to share some feedback. Except he told me the feedback was from the two actors he had nine readings with. One of them was Amjad Khan's "very beautiful daughter." I asked him about his take and he muttered "same, same." Anyway I told him I am willing to do some further work on the script with his team. Ramu donned an empathetic avtaar and told me how "these people like Shernaz" never understood writers are not like actors and they can't "improvise." I told him I had nothing against rewrites so long as it improved the work. Ramu nodded his head disbelievingly.
Next Ramu wanted to know the history of the script. I told him I had written a first draft much before the workshop and never staged it because it didn't work and how I worked it from scratch in the second workshop. "Mail me that one. I am sure it was much better before these bastards had a go at it," Ramu commanded airily and got up to leave. At the door he turned and asked "how desperate are you to have this one staged? I hope you know when Shernaz gave me this script a couple of weeks ago, she pleaded with me saying all other scripts except this one has found a director." This was bizzare. And I decided not to take the bait. I told him that's very likely because all the eleven other playwrights were far more talented than me. Ramu suddenly discovered guilt and told me not to tell Shernaz as she had told this to him "in confidence."

I walked Ramu to his car and he told me he would consider directing my pre workshop draft. I nodded bleary eyed. His parting shot was- 'you are suave, urbane and witty. What are you doing in theatre?" I waved.
Next morning I called a somewhat disbelieving Shernaz. She finally conceded that he should commit although she thought he had started rehearsing.
By afternoon I had a message from Shernaz saying Ramu is out. Trust her to be gracious with an apology and an assurance that she would find me a director, even though none of this is her fault. I emphathized. Ramu must have subjected her to a discussion also. We exchanged funny messages to get over a shared tauma! :-)
I am currently without a director and happy to be so. :-))
p.s. This morning I had a message from Ramu. It reads- "I'm in Pune. See Saar, I'm following in your charan. Ek din hum bhi published playwright ho jayenge. Inshaallah!

Right Ramu! Inshallah!!

Yellow Fever - - Hilarious!!!

2006-11-16T20:41:00.000+05:30

Okie, now that I am shamelessly jobless and willingly taken up the position of the resident globber of our glob, I shall take all sweet liberties and post all my sweet fancies. ah, such sweet life.

For all those whose internet speed just crawls, you might just have to go smoke something or live under some rock and come back later. its quite a long video.

The Tibetan in Mumbai

2006-11-16T13:38:00.000+05:30

- - by Tenzin Tsundue

The Tibetan in Mumbai
is not a foreigner.

He is a cook
at a Chinese takeaway.
They think he is Chinese
run away from Beijing.

He sells sweaters in summer
in the shade of the Parel Bridge.
They think he is some retired Bahadur.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
abuses in Bambaya Hindi,
with a slight Tibetan accent
and during vocabulary emergencies
he naturally runs into Tibetan.
That's when the Parsis laugh.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
likes to flip through the MID-DAY,
loves FM, but doesn't expect
a Tibetan song.

He catches the bus at a signal,
jumps into a running train,
walks into a long dark gully
and nestles in his kholi.

He gets angry
when they laugh at him
'ching-chong-ping-pong'.

The Tibetan in Mumbai
is now tired,
wants some sleep and a dream.
On the 11pm Virar Fast,
he goes to the Himalayas.
The 8.05am Fast Local
brings him back to Churchgate
into the Metro: a New Empire.

I am posting a a couple of links here. Go ahead and read.

Rangzen (Freedom)

"My Kind of Exile": The Silencing of Tenzin Tsundue

Are you guys all busy biting your nails or fighting those demons? Come out now. I am getting bored, chatting to myself!

Lazarus laughed

2006-11-16T00:57:00.000+05:30

Hi,
I'm back.
:-)

on Pebet

2006-11-13T11:59:00.000+05:30

Did anybody watch Pebet at Prithvi? Please please to tell how it was...

an excerpt from Rustum Bharucha...

"My challenge in documenting this text was not merely to prepare a written text out of a non-verbal performance text; the more critical task was to participate in the resurrection of the play from the ashes of its memories as it were. Here I found myself playing the role of a catalyst, as I encouraged Kanhailal and his wife Sabitri to reconstruct the play after an absence of almost 20 years, with a very different cast and a somewhat altered political situation. In Manipur, I found that the very site of documentation compelled me to assume an active role as a writer. The professional demands of the job required a negotiation of existing resources and conditions of work. Not only did I and my photographer colleague Amit Bararia have to get involved in finding an appropriate space for the documentation, we also had to record the productions late at night when it was possible to photograph the plays without voltage fluctuations by stealing electric current from the main line. While I wouldn't want to make this sound unduly subversive, it should be remembered that curfew descends on the streets of Imphal after dusk when the militia are omnipresent. Documenting an ostensibly innocent anti-state play in the thick of the night gave the entire activity a different immediacy and sense of involvement."

Link via indianwriting.

ZAMIEL CHECKS IN

2006-11-12T09:47:00.000+05:30

Ram called yesterday from base camp.

He's fine except for a slightly manic edge to his voice, which could have something to do with the air at 16,000 feet or could be just Ram.

He'll be in Bombay this Thursday.

Who else is coming and when? We got to have the mother of all get-togethers.

ZAMIEL GONE MISSING

2006-11-11T09:56:00.000+05:30

Has anyone heard from Ram?

He was up climbing in the Himalayas just a few weeks back, and scheduled to be in Bombay about now.

But his phone's off and he's vanished.

If anyone has any news, post, ok?

my occupation right now ...

2006-11-08T23:10:00.000+05:30

... is this red button.

enjoy madi. much joy comes your way as it did mine.

All present say 'Aye!'

2006-11-08T09:15:00.000+05:30

Are all 12 plays going to festival?

Or are some of us still out there looking for directors?

And who is directing what?

Tell, tell, TELL!

(Rajit's directing Act of Love, which may well be an Act of Desperation on Rage's part, but Rajit being Rajit, I'm sure something gorgeous and hybrid will emerge and in any case, it is likely to be a happy process)

Sanity/Insanity

2006-11-07T12:28:00.000+05:30

Hey guys,
Wanted to put a question aboard, to get a sense of what you guys think. I've been grappling with the notion of 'snapping' or a temporary psychological breakdown. In a conversation with some friends, the idea that came across was that any average person needs a load of weight on their heads to actually break down at any given point of time. It, quite literally, needs to add up to the straw on the camel's back before a person can, rationally speaking, snap.
I'm arguing that the weights on a person's head accumulate from the time they are born, so that at any given point of time, it could be a situation that evinces no particular reaction in anyone else which may be responsible for triggering a breakdown in one person. It's a question of that person's state of mind at that particular moment which matters, not so much the event itself.
What say you?

for RGK

2006-11-06T12:12:00.000+05:30

got this in my mailbox. David Mamet's "The Wicked Son".

Disgruntlemungus

2006-11-03T18:34:00.001+05:30

Was chatting the other day with a disgruntled member of our group on this whole issue of finding directors.

We both felt there was something a bit unsettling about the process of having scripts passed around and often rejected. (God knows it must be doubly difficult for Rage...they're out there hustling for us). But we also agreed that this rejection is part of the process. The 'real world' part. The bit where we grow up and stop being creative flower children in a hothouse with mummy phyllida and daddy carl.

And as Harriet very sensibly pointed out in one of her posts: if everybody in the world loved your play, chances are it would be a very boring play indeed!

But here disgruntled writer #1 and disgruntled writer #2 parted ways. Because I believe, quite strongly, that it isn't enough to find just any director. It has to be the right director. Right in that he or she feels right to you, seems to share your sensibilities, 'gets' the play. If this animal never turns up, then you don't go to festival. Simple.

The other view, equally passionately held, was that you go to festival any which way you can. Make the best of what you get. Even if it's just loose end director being tied up with loose end script (yours). Just get it out there. That's the whole point.

I don't buy this argument one bit. But I can see that it would make sense from a 'career in writing' point of view.

What do you guys think?

2006-11-03T18:34:00.000+05:30

Catching up

2006-11-03T11:42:00.000+05:30

Swar, what are you saying, girl? I thought you were the first one on the wing! If you don't have a director yet, I'm guessing something is seriously wrong with Mumbai's theatre folk! What about Keerthana herself as a director?
Vijay I think they're father and son. Though I couldn't confirm that. Ramu Ramanathan is pretty big himself, no? But wouldn't you prefer Rage to produce it? That would almost be like a home production!
What news of Maia, Rajeev, Asif and Ajay?
I honestly don't know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple of months. Shitting bricks, in all probability! For all these months I haven't had the time to breathe and now, suddenly, I have this window period with nothing to do! As a result my new play is also proceeding at a very, very lazy pace. Let me put it this way...it's still in my head! Guess I'll only start writing when I have at least five other things to deal with! At the moment I'm really enjoying making my house and my time my own...after eight months of constantly having to give way to the in-laws...
I know Swar probably doesn't have the time to breathe right now...are you still getting married in December? How's life with all the rest of you guys?

The bounds of relief...

2006-11-01T16:19:00.000+05:30

Ok, yippee! Phew! Have a director. At least until he re-reads the script, which he has threatened to do...Akarsh Khurana of Akvarious has agreed to become the bakra for my play. Anyone else with good news?

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!

2006-10-27T06:35:00.000+05:30

I just got really tired of seeing 'Copy Paste Theater' staring me in the face every time I blogged on. But having nothing important or even mildly interesting to say, I opted for the advertising approach: Sensationalist headline, no substance in copy, weak ending.

How are you guys?

Who (like me) hasn't found a director yet ? Isn't that a bit sad and quite terrifying?

Ah, well. Love lots and for God's sake, someone intelligent, post!

(see? weak ending)

Copy-paste theatre

2006-10-16T09:22:00.000+05:30

I have been attending the Bareeri workshop (theatre criticism workshop) at Ranga Shankara for the past three days. The Company Theatre's Numbers in the dark was taken as the premise for 9 critics to critique and brainstorm. For the workshop, Keval Arora and Sadanand Menon asked us to write a review of Atul Kumar's latest production. The original review i wrote is as below:

"The Company Theatre's devised production for Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2006 "Numbers in the dark" literally held a mirror to the audience and raised a few critical questions. The brochure cites the writings of Italo Calvino, Harold Pinter, Complicite and Jeanette Winterson as inspiration, and materials for adaptation. What is the meaning and responsibility understood by a Company when they decide to employ the definition "inspired and adapted from"?

We were each given a leaf on entering the auditorium and after a successive mirror-reflection of the immobile mass of spectators as against a lone artiste born to struggle, an introductory piece followed. By the end of the 10-minute monologue, a realization struck that except for the bits irrelevant to an Indian audience, it has been a verbatim performance of the very engaging introduction of Complicite's 1999 original production 'Mnemonic'. Including the leaf. Is this how we should now start to define an ‘inspired and adapted’ theatrical piece: without the new perception a hopeful audience looks forward to; not unlike the copy-paste job that a processor allows us? Or did The Company Theatre presume that it would be playing to a gallery of immobile spectators and not much is necessary except for the spectacle? My only perception was the uncanny coincidence. Simon McBurney had staged Ionesco’s The Chairs before the production of ‘Mnemonic’ and it is mentioned in the original script. The Company Theatre has also staged The Chairs a few weeks ago in Mumbai and Bangalore. This is as surreal as the production was incongruous. Keeping aside the artistic ruminations, what comes next is the very technical question of copyright. Ideas have no copyright, so the idea of the leaf cannot be faulted. I am assuming that a responsible group like The Company Theatre has taken the right permission from the right people to perform the 10-minute monologue of ‘Mnemonic’ as well as the rest of ‘inspired and adapted’ pieces used to stitch the production together. Recently, Bangalore theatre has seen a spate of copyright issues regarding theatrical productions and another addition would not be a feather in the cap.

The production value of ‘Numbers in the dark’ is definitely higher than the usual fare. The precise, surprise element which has become the trademark of The Company Theatre’s visual production was evident in more than generous proportions. The fragmented shadows cast by the black strips hanging in the background; the double reflection of light from the mirror the actors constantly peer at; the bright yellow light of a singular bulb enveloping the melodramatic recital of possible murders and manipulation; the dull, icy white light flooding the interrogation scene; the rain of white mini-parachutes in the final crescendo arrested the audience and possibly became a clever substitute for the lack of integrity in content and intention. It is however laudable the way seven amateur actors managed to hold the performance together, unlike the uninterested performance given by professional actors the other evening."

I was told The Company Theatre had applied to the British Council, Italian Embassy etc etc for the rights to perform and that Atul Kumar had apprenticed with Complicite etc etc. Yes, thats good news and what we expect from a reputed company when they perform for a national festival. The copyright issue became a major point of discussion and I was informed about Laurence Liang's Copyleft project which denounces the idea of copyright. We all know the state of Indian Theatre when it comes to monetary advantages. We know how amateur theatre struggles to mount a production. But in the name of 'inspired and adapted from', is it justified to lift 10 pages of script without batting an eyelid and performing it verbatim? What is the basic meaning of 'inspiration' or 'adaptation'? I know for sure that it doesn't mean 'copy-paste'. I have seen Simon performing the piece on tape and as the actor in Numbers in the dark, he addresses the audience like a moderator. Not only the text but the performance itself has been transported in its original format. Except that Simon was wearing a shirt (and coat) and our Indian actor an overall. What complication or difference in perception has 'Numbers in the dark' introduced in its performance of Mnemonic? Nothing. This disturbs me as a playwright, as a critic and as an audience. Yes, we will leave the financial angle of royalty and copyright because we are all so poor. But where is the creative process, goddamnit? What do I look forward to here as a member of the audience?

We are all writers (and actors and directors) here. Each of us know about the endless hours we spend even to get a 2-minute scene on stage right. It would be wonderful if what we write inspire other artistes and lead them to create something more or different from our piece. Playwrights anyway are never paid anything here, so just the possibility of starting a creative conversation makes us happy and feed our hunger. But what do we do when a director takes all our lines and directions (basically our play) and plonk them on stage and call it an inspiration/adaptation? I think an old foggy from early 20th century (and earlier) would call it disrespect. At this age, respect is such a vile word.

PEOPLE, I AM TRAVELLING FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. SO PLEASE CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION. IF POSSIBLE I WILL ALSO JOIN IN ON AND OFF.

A German Play

2006-10-14T00:11:00.000+05:30

Early last month I was reading Ronald Schimmelpfennig's Arabian Night and I found his style pretty interesting. Harriet must be knowing about him as a couple of his plays have already been performed at the Royal Court. It has been performed in India also by Khoj and somebody in Mumbai...

Pinter-Beckett

2006-10-14T00:07:00.000+05:30

Came across this Telegraph.uk.co article on Pinter taking up Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape". Ram, Pritham Kumar has also done this one, right? I missed all the BLT's productions on Beckett this year.

Stoppard

2006-10-13T15:59:00.000+05:30

Hullo. Any reactions to the new Stoppard play?
And more loaded...
Any reactions to the new Karnad play?

http://www.geocities.com/qtpthescript/oct06.html

Motley etc

2006-10-13T08:50:00.000+05:30

I'm sorry I've been away so long.

Got back on to the blog yesterday and immediately wished I hadn't! I feel as though we've been in this wonderfully Utopian space so far, nothing but the writing and the discipline and the craft, and now suddenly all sorts of uncomfortable realities are beginning to invade it.

Or am I just being naive?

My news...Rage sent the play to Naseeruddin Shah in the hope that he might want to direct it and perhaps also play Rustom. Of course, I was completely star struck by the whole affair and fantasised all the way to a fabulous production in January. But he got back about a week ago saying no, it 'wasn't his kind of play'. I would by far have preferred 'I'm too busy'. Not his kind of play makes me question the merit of the thing entirely.

Ah well.

So now the search for a director begins again, and with names like Mahabanoo Kotwal and Lilette Dubey coming up, I am having nightmares. (Thank God this is a private space!)

As therapy, I've begun my second play. It seems to be writing itself but it is such a lonely process in comparison to the first. Why can't we have a Vasind every year, dammit!

More soon and love.

By the way Harriet, I am re-reading "Being George Devine's Daughter" and am again struck by the storybook quality of your life. By that I mean both romantic and perpetually interesting. I wish I had read it before we spent ten days together in Vasind...I'd have had so many questions for you.

Some info

2006-10-11T12:00:00.000+05:30

Just thought I'd throw in some mildly useful info.
Now that scripts are going out, some of you may be concerned about protection. If someone wants to lift your script, there's little that can really prevent them. Unless there's big money involved, you'd be better off just mailing the offending party a stinker, instead of calling a lawyer. We don't have agents. We don't have easy publication set ups. We barely have legal coverage. So...
Basics. You need to fixate the script in a definitive version and fix the date of creation. Write the date of completion on your script. Slap a Copyright symbol on the script with the date and add your name and contact details. You can also put - All rights reserved ... or ... Not to be copied, or distributed without the author's permission. You can then e-mail a copy to your self as proof of the date of fixation. Or you can send a registered post to yourself.
I also find that .pdfs are safer for scripts that you are sending out electronically. Try not to send out word docs as they can be easily modified and copied (unless password protected, encrypted or read only docs). Pdfs aren't pilfer-proof, but they make the copying a bit irritating. (You can simply disable the copy paste function while publishing the pdf, so recipients can't just select text and transfer to word doc.) There are work arounds, but the irritant factor is the first barrier you are throwing up.
This is the minimum safety that you can put in place at this stage. Anyway ... more later.
I'll get Anu to post links on quick templates that take care of your stage-play formatting for you. And any other resources that I can dig up.
Take care all.

Copy Cat

2006-10-11T06:09:00.000+05:30

Long time! Have good as well as not so good news to share with you. Let me start with the not so good one.As all of you know, Shernaz had given my script to a Marathi director Pratima Kulkarni who has politely refused to direct it saying that the theme as well as the content of the play has been dealt with before. I am fine with the theme(s) being ripped. My play deals with sibling rivalry, alienation, desolation etc, etc and hopefully I have succeded in drawing parallels between the "micro" squabbling between the two sisters and the "macro" riot unfolding outside. I think there is a paucity of themes out there, so what can one do!I can't take a likewise liberal view on content.
To the writers who came for the later workshop- The new play "Dreamcatcher" is about two sisters who are classical Indian dancers spending an evening holed up in a five star suite because their show has been cancelled due to a communal flareup. Their only contact with the outside world is the waiter who has been deputed to their room. As tensions escalate outside, the sisters are forced to confront all the ugliness in their own lives. A dreamcatcher also makes an appearance to indicate how the best dreams are meant not to stay but to wither and die and then reappear in some other form.That really is the jist.
Ira asked for the whole script so I mailed it to her. Needless to add, I can mail it to anyone else also if they have the time or inclination to read it.I would be quite concerned if the content of the play inadvertently resembles any other Indian play, in whatever language. I can't imagine any non-Indian play having a similar content as the setting is so 'desi.' But again if someone knows of any firang play, that is similar in content, do let me know.
At this stage in my writing career, I just can't afford to have someone claiming my play is derivative from some other text. Especially since I have been quite vocal about any form of creative writing being driven by "original ideas." I truly believe any reinterpretation including adaptations is "clever writing," something I no longer want to do after my shot at King Lear!So if there is any other play that may make it appear that my play has borrowed content, I would much rather withdraw it.
In some ways, this is so reminiscent of 2001 when I wrote my first play "Scars in my memory." :-(A journalist asked me if I had ripped it from "The Blair Witch project." I hadn't seen the movie and found it difficult to defend myself. When I watched it later, I just couldn't see any resemblance except both of them were "experimental." Then when the play began to get good audience and critical response, a doyen from Bangalore theatre started spreading I had actually ripped it from a film called "Spin the bottle." I watched that too and was pleasantly surprised at the non resemblance.
I am sure that Ms. Kulkarni doesn't know me from adam and her feedback is impartial and genuine. So that's all the more worrying. Do help fellow writers!
The good news is ( I can see Nadir and KRK sniggering with unhealthy delight as they read this!)- I have just got a web site done. I know none of you would believe me if I told you I did it on my publisher's advice. So I am not saying it. :-) Please visit me at www.vijaynair.net. The site is almost ready. Some pictures have to be included, that's all. Feedback is most welcome.To redeem myself
I also taught Dhruv Uno. He beats me all the time.I think I am revealing too much.
Bye!

Heart is paining..

2006-10-10T17:48:00.000+05:30

hello writers...

got some news that makes me pretty damn sad...

looks like i'm going to be missing all of writer's bloc in jan.. gonna be acting in a play with the daksha sheth dance company which will be rehearsing all through january in trivandrum... really depressing but it's an opportunity i can't afford to pass up... took me a long time to finally say yes to it... missing being part of the festival is just too weird...

so, just thought i'd let you guys know.. hope all the writing's going well..

HELLLOOOO!!! WHERE ARE YOU BLOG RULERS?

2006-10-06T00:52:00.000+05:30

I never thought I would have to ever end up doing this but hellooo Maia and Ram where are the two of you? The blog feels dead without the two of you posting. Don't give up on our space you two..... keep it alive! Okay lets spill some secrets Maia. I have one : Manu sings in her sleep. There. Your turn.

RAM BAM

2006-09-25T12:12:00.000+05:30

okie, should i deduce from the color of this blog that RAM BAM has suddenly discovered an urgent loyalty to our sponsor?! please to educate. thanko mucho.

Disturbing trip to Imphal

2006-09-22T11:29:00.000+05:30

I just got back from Imphal. Was there on some work. What an incredibly wierd and unsettling experience. I had this exotic picture of the place on my mind and what I saw instead was literally a slap in the face. Felt completely unwelcome. Was there barely for five days and felt like an intruder right through my stay. I guess Swar would be the best person to talk to about this. I visited the chorus repertory theatre and spoke to The-Man-Himself- Mr. Ratan Thiyam. That was qiute a rewarding experience...but barely enough to mke my memory of Manipur a pleasant one.

Casting Call for Peter Pan

2006-09-21T10:17:00.000+05:30

Tim Supple is looking to cast acrobats/aerialists (rope cloth trapeze etc...), gymnasts, martial artists and actors with these skills or those who might be able to acquire any of the above if trained.

Contact Faezeh at
faezehjalali@gmail.com
+919819228935

Details follow... (apologies for blobbing)

Peter Pan Auditions

We are conducting a series of research auditions in India- looking for remarkable physical [performers for a major new version of Peter Pan that will be created for London' s famous Roundhouse Theatre in the winter of 2007 or 2008. Similar audition sessions will be held in China, South America and Europe.

We are looking for people of all ages, skills and experience. We are especially interested in performers of great physical skill who have the potential to develop as actors AND highly skilled actors who have the potential to develop their physical skills. The auditions will be held in groups, lasting for up to 4 hours. All those who attend will be asked to perform their particular area of expertise and also to improvise.

Those invited to be in the production would need to commit to training and to a long residency of rehearsal and performance in the UK of at least 4 months starting in the winter of 2007 OR the winter of 2008, with a commitment to return for a second year. If selected, all expenses, pay, care and education of children etc will be structured on very good UK terms.

Please, we request that if you are interested but uncertain of any aspect of the job or the commitment, come along and audition and we can discuss. Peter Pan is one of the greatest creations of fantasy, yearning, love and the simple tragedy of living. It is a story that deserves the very best performers from across the world.

Tim Supple, Director, has directed, adapted and devised theatre, opera and film throughout the UK and in the US, Europe, India and the Middle and Far East. He has worked regularly at the National Theatre and the RSC. In the 1990s, he was Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre. Tim's work includes Shakespeare's Coriolanus, The Comedy of Errors, and Twelfth Night; Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Carol Anne Duffy's Grimm Tales and More Grimm Tales; Kipling's The Jungle Book; Lorca's Blood Wedding; Wedekind's Spring Awakening; Ted Hughes's Tales from Ovid; Goldoni's A Servant and Two Masters; Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Midnight's Children; and Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Most recently he directed A MIdsummer Night' s Dream with performers from across India and Sri Lanka. This production played in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata before visiting Stratford-upon-Avon and Verona. In 2007 the production will return to the UK for a London run and an extensive tour prior to a major international tour.

jagshemash!!!

2006-09-20T12:03:00.000+05:30

hair(rising)style

2006-09-20T11:12:00.000+05:30

Ei am to be addressed as SwarPippi Longstockingjam. Ei bought an island. Please be to admire, fuddle and speak Twi. Thank you jam much.

Telling Secrets

2006-09-19T18:49:00.000+05:30

In the interests of reviving this increasingly limp space, how about we all throw a bit of dirt around? Preferably at each other.

I know, for instance, that swar has a crush on ira.

See? this is already so much fun!

Who wants to go next?

Where have all the flowers gone?

2006-09-15T12:58:00.000+05:30

oy! writers!

where are you guys?

the gangrenous head of terror

2006-08-15T22:31:00.000+05:30

Within the precints of this portal a few months ago I had remarked, rather nonchalantly and with my nonsense of humour, on the possibility of the the person next to me being a potential bomb. With its utter lack of respect for sapiens jokes, life barked back.

It could have been worse...

A few metres from my office, an inhuman bomb detonated itself yesterday. A dull Thud, followed a second later by a less dull Thud, the echo of the earlier T. The gravity of it actually happening in front of your ears sinks in the moment the floor beneath you has stopped shaking and the windows have stopped rattling. The windows might have been shatterproof, but lives are not. The fact that people have been taken away from us in the same shameless manner that their bodies have been consigned to vapour at a spot that I had walked past a couple of hours earlier hurts; a cloud of smoke, mostly human remains, rises.

Some yells, and people frantically running towards the spot to help (as opposed to running away, that was fantastic), but what help can you provide a child who was found in the drain a few yards away?

The absence of sensibility compensated by an overwhelming sense of, whatsit called, terror?

All you guys who got in touch - thanks for the concern, it was very sweet of you to have checked. Things back to normal, the roads cleaned up, another day.

Business as usual.

Hmmm... Wtf

2006-08-15T21:59:00.000+05:30

... it is the juxtaposition in the mind of the audience between the spoken word of the author and the simple directed-but-uninflected action of the actor which creates the ineluctable idea of character in the mind of the audience...
Mamet from True and False ...

Ooooo! That's so much simpler then...

See you at Vasind

2006-07-25T16:56:00.000+05:30

Iru, Ram, Manu, Ajay, Asif...see you on the 5th at Vasind. Can't wait!
Just a thought...since the first batch is leaving on the 5th evening, I was wondering is we could overlap by a few hours and meet everyone. Would mean us landing up a few hours earlier, but it would be so worth it, dontcha think?
Have already mailed Shernaz about this...let's see if it works out.

back to free speech

2006-07-21T18:21:00.000+05:30

so, we are back. my ISP has allowed me to access blogspot and the rest of the WWW that was being choked.

Harriet, to get to know more about it, you can go to Sepia Mutiny. I got your mail and thank you so much for your good words. i am not presenting an argument nor is there a moral. i am examining a social paradox, which will come across clearer as soon as i finish reworking on the first draft.

as far as the blog ban is concerned, i will go with the prudent consensus that it was a knee-jerk reaction of a clueless department in the indian government. however, selective censorship is active on particular sites and that needles me. the argument for it is that these sites will incense and escalate communalism. to any layperson who knows how the internet works, it is laughable. anything BANNED or BLOCKED on WWW can be bypassed. if our Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is of the opinion that the internet is a tangible property against which an injunction can be obtained, it is an ominous sign. a sign of limited knowledge and parochial governance.

Grrrrr ...

2006-07-18T13:38:00.000+05:30

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/8719.html

Paintball Rulz!

2006-07-17T13:10:00.000+05:30

Guys guys guys !!! !!! !!!
I just played paintball yesterday... It was UNREAL! Awesome stuff.
Anyone in Bangalore or visiting, HAS to try it... it's 10 mins from the IIM Campus on Bannerghatta Road.
You take a 'marker' which is a CO2 air gun, wear protective gear, make teams and shoot each other with paint pellets! It's toooo cool.
I went with a bunch of friends and we had a blast. It's like playing counter strike in real life! We played 2 rounds of Capture the Flag, which is to capture and retrieve your opponents flag while defending your own. Somthn called Hostage Rescue where you defend a hostage from an attacking team intent on fragging you - with a medic on both teams who can revive dead players. And the most sadistic one - Civil War - stand, shoot and advance until everyone is fragged!
The various bruises and cuts say it all and the fkn pellets hurt! Esp if you get shot point blank in the face-guard, neck or back. And there's teaming, strategy, moderate fitness and accuracy involved.
Highlights include:
Direct face shot in Civil War that blinded someone with paint.(lucky for that face guard)
Me being bunkered twice and shot in the back point blank! (Typical that...)
Various exhausted ppl hiding and sniping till the other runs out of ammo.
Hostage tripping over a stone and forcing the defending team out into the open.
Classic Roman stlye 'Tortoise' strategy that successfully defended the hostage and medic hiding in the middle healing everyone.
Two unpleasant crotch hits - one of which bounced luckily.

OMG! I'm too thrilled to say more... Anyhooo ... It's fun. Try it.

flag

2006-07-14T20:26:00.000+05:30

Hmmm...

2006-07-12T19:51:00.000+05:30

Just received this article in me inbox.

Interesting.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1817769,00.html

Check in Plz...

2006-07-11T19:54:00.000+05:30

Guys in Bombay. Chk in plz. Hope everyone is ok.

DREAMS - The Tunnel

2006-07-10T22:56:00.000+05:30

Swar wants to go to a theka for a bottle of Teachers, after threatening the Blue Dart guys with her pencil. she has to pass a concrete tunnel on the way. suddenly, 42 angry and scarlet dead babies fly out of the tunnel, each wrapped in a page off her script. rattled, she marches through the tunnel and comes out the other side. eigya follows her on his cycle, his face blue with death. an entire battalion of blue-faced eigyas marches out of the tunnel on cycles. just when she thinks she's seen the worst, the scarlet dead babies screech out of their tyres and it snows - tiny pieces of her first draft gliding slowly to the music of the river flowing by.

Deadline!

2006-07-10T12:47:00.000+05:30

July 10th 2006 - a spaced odyssey

A playwright drifts through outer space without a space suit.
He looks at the curvature of the earth far below.
A full orchestra is in orbit nearby.

Orchestra:
Duuunnn DUNNN dun DONNNNNNNE!
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

Playwright:
Well! This is the deadline. And the draft is_

Orchestra:
Duuunnn DUNNN dun DONNNNNNNE!

Playwright:
But right now it's kinda_

Orchestra:
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

Playwright:
Quality writing time is tough to find... I've not been sitting on my_

Orchestra:
Buuummm BUMMM bum BUMMMMMMMM!

Playwright:
IDEA! I've developed it, but the fact is I'm_

Orchestra:
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

Playwright:
_TRYING to get some clarity on the whole thing. I'm stuck in my head right now. I just want to_

Orchestra:
Ruuunnn RUNNN run RUNNNNNNNN!

The orchestra hurriedly swim towards a space station and hide inside.

Playwright:
_NO. Not at all. I'm waiting for that flash of inspiration. Because I'm not sure if you know_ What the!

The sun rises and the radiation fries the playwright to a crisp.

Playwright: Aiyeeeee!

Orchestra (muffled, from inside the space station):
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

End of scene.

done da na done done

2006-07-09T11:42:00.000+05:30

i have mailed shernaz my first draft friday night. m i happy? i dunno.

Three... two... one...

2006-07-07T10:38:00.000+05:30

Last weekend available for furious scribbles.
Whtz the latest guys?

Sniff sniff

2006-07-01T17:40:00.000+05:30

My structure broke.
But in a kinda OK way... The play is now sliding all over the place. You could say the shell split open and I've got a mass of stinky innards spewing out.

And in times like this I run furiously to my greats. Anyone got anything useful on Howard Barker by any freak chance? Or Clive Barker for that matter?

weekend writing is like this...

2006-07-01T11:42:00.000+05:30

SATURDAY
SUNDAY

GOD BLESS OTHER WRITERS

2006-06-29T12:59:00.000+05:30

Some brilliant soul from writer's bloc '06 threw this at me a few days ago.

Imagine that you know the entire construct of the play...that Rustom is dead, that he has only so much time to do whatever he has to do and that such and such a thing is what will end his 'grace period' among the living. You know all this in detail. But don't ever tell us. Let it inform your writing without ever once telling us, the audience, what you know. Let us find out.

It was one of those penny dropping moments except that the entire fucking mint fell on top of my head and I saw the LIGHT and everything fell into PLACE.

I now have a play (hallelujah). And the play has an "OH FUCK!" ending.

The freeze is over.

Who would have thought.

Goerge Devine's Daughter

2006-06-28T13:39:00.000+05:30

I'm loving the book although it's going very slowly...in between work and the play.
Ram thinks Harriet is 'such a gorgeous babe, maaan!'
Hmmm...

Look Back in Anger

2006-06-26T12:27:00.000+05:30

at Blossoms yesterday, I bought a copy of 'Look Back in Anger'. for just hundred rupees.

SWAR has disappeared

2006-06-22T17:58:00.000+05:30

According to the Indian Postal Service, you, Swar, are an NSP (No Such Person).

The parcel of books I sent you was returned with NSP scribbled all over it (the postman translated for me).

Where are you Swar? And were you, in fact, ever there at all? And if not, who drank all my Black Label in Vasind?

Such an interesting development this is.

Meanwhile, the plays I sent you (who?) are back with me.

"The Play's the Thing"

2006-06-18T14:27:00.000+05:30

This is the title of a rather fascinating programme currently running on Channel 4. A very charismatic West End producer called Sonia Freidman has committed to producing a first play by a first-time writer in her theatre. They had 2000 submissions, weeded them down to a short list of 30, then 10, now 3. Winner will be announced on Monday, and the play actually opens next week, I think -- it must be being rehearsed in secrecy so as not to spoil the TV programme. The shortlisted ones have had workshops with a writer and teacher whose name now escapes me (although I have met him!) but who seemed pretty good, much in the style of Carl. I thought of you all as the people -- who had originally just submitted 3 scenes and a synopsis of the rest -- wrestled with the task of making that into a full-length play. The choice of the finalist was made more challenging in one sense since this is going on in the West End, not traditionally a venue for new or experimental work -- so the play has to be capable of pulling in the audiences. You really feel for those who are not chosen, especially the final 10 who have worked so hard and many of whom have written really interesting work -- hopefully they will get produced in studio theatres elsewhere in the UK.
You can read about it on the channel4 website http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/T/the_play/index.html
and in theory even watch it on your PC though I couldn't get this to work on mine.
Speaking of wrestling -- Maia, how's the freeze?

Stoppard

2006-06-16T14:19:00.000+05:30

I went to the opening night of Tom Stoppard's new play, Rock and Roll, at the RCT a couple of days ago. The first play he has ever had done there -- I think he has generally been felt not to be a 'Royal Court writer', whatever that means. But he asked if he could have one put on for the 50th anniversary, and this was it. Star studded cast, directed by Trevor Nunn, incredibly starry audience -- I was inches from Mick Jagger at one point, and there were people there from Pink Floyd -- also Vaclav Havel and many other famous faces. Everyone clapped and cheered and roared their approval at the end and the critics have been raving about it, all the ones I've read, anyway. But alas, I did not like the play! I found it too long, too full of intellectual showing off just for the sake of it, and generally having a rather dodgy message which seemed to be -- Forget politics, rock and roll is much more important and valuable. Of course this is me being flippant,but it was an odd experience being among so much adulation and thinking, gosh, is it just me? Or is it a case of the emperor's new clothes?
The music was good, though -- lots of Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, blasting out between scenes.
Reviews will soon appear on the RCT website and I will send (or bring!) a play text soon.

Shernaz's mail

2006-06-16T11:02:00.000+05:30

Oi!
Did you all get Shernaz's email about Carl not being able to make it in August, but the workshop still being on perhaps with other senior writers filling in?
So I guess it's BAD news, all caps, and a bit of good news, lower case.
As Ram said when I boo hooed about this to him: we'll all just chillax by the pool, maaan!
Hmmm...

Kutumb's theatre festival

2006-06-12T15:08:00.000+05:30

Ok, this is a call for HELP!!
Our NGO, Kutumb, is organising an evening of two plays--an adaptation of Charandas Chor by our kids and my first pay, Wave. The shows have been planned through July, and are basically meant to raise funds for Kutumb. For those who were interested to know more (and for those who weren't!) Kutumb is an NGO run totally by volunteers. We run an educational programme that has a flexible design to cater to the needs of children who live in slums and the streets of Delhi and who, variously, go to school, go occasionally to school or don't go at all. We have an open programme focusing on music, dance, theatre, craft and sports as much as it focuses on the 'R's. The idea is that people who would like to share their skills with these children come to our classes at the Junior Modern School and either do regular classes a few times a week or time-bound workshops. We have classes for two hours in the evening on weekdays and three hours on Saturdays. We also run a mentoring programme for young adults and a health programme through weekends that focuses on counselling in the basti in which most of our kids live.

The good news on the festival, which is called Hilley-ley...shake the world!, is that we've got a principal sponsor in Hutch and some amount of support from NSD (audi booking for two shows sponsored...this is for you Shernaz!) and some other people have promised to look into our appeal, but the fact is we're still seriously short of money. The first thing to happen if we fall short will be that my play will get totally screwed! I had to go and write a play that costs a bomb to produce and now I'm banging my head over it...

Anyway, moot point is...can you guys, any of you, help? Who are the people who sponsor theatre or are interested in amateur theatre, or whose CSR cell is based in Delhi? We got Hutch through a major contact, but no other corporate has come forward yet and we are running out of time. Any ideas, anyone?

For anyone planning a trip to Delhi around July/August, my play's on at Sri ram Centre on the 8th and 9th of July and at the India Habitat Centre Amphitheatre on the 15th and 16th of July (only if it doesn't rain!). It's supposed to happen somewhere on Delhi University's North Campus in August, in all probability the second weekend. (Can we please not keep the workshop around that time, Shernaz?)

Do come, if any of you can! And please spread the word around to your friends, acquaintances, strangers on the way, anyone in Delhi or remotely likely to come by, to come see the play!
And pray for me, guys!